New Zealand Birds

11001-66801 Fairy tern, or tara iti (Sternula nereis davisae) pair with chicks. This tiny, slim endemic is the rarest of our breeding terns, its nests on popular beaches in summer are vulnerable to walkers, vehicles, cats and dogs. Destruction of mangrove habitat, where fish nurseries once provided abundant food for foraging adult terns may have contributed to their decline. Now restricted to Northland's coast, it was formerly widespread in the lower North Island, and on eastern South Island braided riverbeds. Mangawai *